Alice
Skirtz will discuss and sign her new book Econocide: Elimination of the Urban Poor
today at Findlay Market’s Skirtz & Johnson. The book looks at how
Cincinnati “has used legislation and the administration of public policy to
serve the ends of privatizing public assets and displacing people who are
perceived as undesirable because they lack economic power and privilege.” Skirtz
is also a social worker and founder of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the
Homeless — proceeds from tonight’s book sales will go to the organization. The
signing runs 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Women
Helping Women is a 24-hour crisis service helping victims of domestic violence,
sexual assault and stalking. The non-shelter program offers intervention and
support services for women — and men — in Southwestern Ohio. Tonight,
Sharonville transforms into Oz for Light Up the Night: Emerald City Ball, a benefit for Women Helping Women. Don your best ruby slippers as you enjoy
dinner-by-the-bite, Wizard of Oz-themed cocktails, auctions and music — all for
a wonderful cause. Tickets should have been reserved in advance. Go here to get involved with the
organization by adopting a family, donating or volunteering.

Ensemble
Theater Cincinnati takes audiences on a “trip down musical memory lane” with
its production of Life Could be a Dream, onstage tonight. Fans of ETC’s Wonderettes productions will feel at
home with this sock hop-era musical that follows the Crooning Crabcakes as they
try to make the big time and win a local radio contest. Sing along to classic
hits like “Runaround Sue,” “Earth Angel,” “Unchained Melody” and more tunes
from the time. Tickets to tonight’s 7:30 show are $36.

Check out our music blog for tonight's live show lineup and our To Do page for more events, art shows and performances.

Last
night’s Reds opener against the Cubs was postponed due to that nasty storm, so Bronson Arroyo and Chicago's
Jeff Samardzija will face off tonight at 7:10 p.m. A makeup game for
last night has not been announced yet.

If
you’re downtown for the game or just hanging out, stop by the Moerlein Lager
House at The Banks for their first seasonal Keg tapping. Councilman P.G.
Sittenfeld will tap the Christian Moerlein Dubél Double IPA, available only at
the Lager House, at 6 p.m.

Even
if you’re far from a modern dance buff, you’re probably familiar with
contemporary dance company Pilobolus.Besides touring across more than 64 countries,
Pilobus performed a tribute to the nominated movies at the 2007 Oscars,
collaborated with OK GO for the group’s “All Is Not Lost” music video
and were featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2008.

Pretty
cool, right? Pilobolus is in town tonight and Thursday, performing at the
Aronoff Center as part of Contemporary Dance Theater’s Guest Artist Series. Go
here
for tickets.

Joseph-Beth
hosts staff favorite author Veronica Roth and their Rookwood location tonight.
The New York Times bestselling author will discuss and sign the second book in
her popular Divergent series tonight
from 7-8:30 p.m. Insurgent is “another intoxicating thrill
ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful
insights about human nature.”

May is Bike Month so be sure
to check our our new issue, out today, for tips on traversing city streets,
options for trail lovers and a lots of pedal-rific events all month long.

Check out our To Do page for
more arts and theater happenings and follow our music blog for nightly club
shows and concerts.

Happy May Day! The holiday has various meanings
across cultures with Christian, pagan and labor-related celebrations. Today in
the U.S., the holiday is widely known as International Workers’ Day and
observed by labor unions. The local Occupy movement will celebrate this
tradition by demonstrating to raise awareness about the importance of increasing
the minimum wage. Meet at Senator Rob Portman’s office (36 E. Seventh St.,
Downtown) from 4-5:30 p.m. today to show your support and learn more about
the various benefits of fair living wages.

The Reds take on the Cubs at 7 p.m. tonight in
the first of three games against the Chicago crew. Bronson Arroyo looks to
continue his strong performance against the last-placed Cubs. Find
last-minute tickets here.

Antonelli College hosts a free seminar tonight
featuring tips on getting the most out of social media. Learn secrets from the
pros as a panel discusses simple ideas and insider tricks on benefiting from
Facebook, Twitter and other social media services. The discussion runs 6-7:30
p.m. at the West Chester campus.

The Cincinnati Metropolitan Orchestra teams up
with the College of Mount St. Joseph tonight for a special concert, Simple
Gifts. Students will perform a variety of work, including "Porgi Amor," "O Mio
Babbino Caro," "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Variations on a Shaker Melody." The
free concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Mount St. Joe.

The infamous Second City comedy troupe returns to Cincinnati this week with more locally-inspired sketches. Catch a preview show of Less Pride...More Pork tonight at Playhouse in the Park and be sure to bring your sense of humor — remember, they're laughing with us. Also at the playhouse tonight, one of our Critic's Picks, Thunder Knocking on the Door.

Cincinnati’s annual celebration of the two-wheeled lifestyle returns in May

It’s that time of the
year again — time to celebrate bicycles and the pleasant lifestyles
to which they contribute. It’s easy to understand the benefits of
riding a bike: exercise, better enjoyment and understanding of our
surroundings, less traffic and smog, etc. (When you’re riding a
bike you also get to worry less about the consistent military
struggles over resources in the Middle East and other places: “What
the [expletive] did I do?!?”)

May is officially Bike
Month, but celebratory events kick off this weekend with a Bike Art
Poster Party at Coffee Emporium 6:30-8 p.m. Friday and the Bike Month
Kick-Off Expo 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the downtown public library. The
Expo will include crafts, bike-related books and unique bikes on
exhibit such as a tall bike, bamboo bike and vintage, delivery and
cargo bikes.

CityBeat will
preview in its cover story next week the many other Bike Month events
scheduled during May, in addition to some fun cycling tips and a
rundown of local cycling infrastructure and resources. (There might
also be a check-in with a local guy who doesn’t have a car to see
how things are going with him…)

The following are some
of the many events taking place in May, via Queen City Bike:

Howl
at the Moon Ride: Explore city streets at night, top off with a
party

Walk
Along Wasson Way-:Walking tour along the proposed Wasson Way Biking
Trail

Pompeii
and Pizza: Tour the exhibit at the Museum center then ride to a
pizza lunch

Thanks to the Contemporary Arts Center's current music video exhibition, Spectacle, a number of talented musicians, artists and directors have flocked to Cincinnati during the past two months to perform and discuss the power of music videos in our culture. Tonight, director Vincent Morisset stops by to screen Inni, his powerful black-and-white film about Icelandic Pop Rock group Sigur Rós. Morisset will then discuss his work with Sigur Rós and Arcade Fire and take questions. The event begins at 6:30 — come early to check out the Spectacle exhibit if you haven't yet. The screening and talk are free for members, $7.50 museum admission for non-members.

It's Final Friday and last year's popular monthly OTR Skate is back! Don your best hot pants and tube socks and roll over to the OTR Recreation Center for a night of old-school fun with a hip twist. Bust a move on the rink to the music of Automagik and You, You're Awesome. Admission is just $5 (skate rental included) and goes to the Rec Center to provide youth programs and scholarships for area kids. Enjoy free Vitamin Water and classic game room attractions like air hockey and foosball. Been a decade or two since you last laced up those skates? Cincinnati Rollergirls will be on hand for some pro tips. The fun begins at 8 p.m.

Northside's Building Value presents its third annual ReUse-apalooza tonight from 7-11 p.m. Learn about how the nonprofit reuses materials and what you can do to promote sustainable building practices. Music will be provided by Messerly and Ewing and there will be a silent auction featuring Building Value projects. Tickets are $20, $50 VIP. After the benefit, head over to Northside Tavern for a free after-party.

If you've checked out our cover story this week, you know about the steampunk movement that's taken flight locally. What started as a literary genre that mixes Victorian history with futuristic fantasy elements a la Jules Verne is know an underground culture with its own music, art, costuming and performance aspects. This weekend marks the first Steampunk Symposium at Tri-County's Atrium Hotel. While weekend passes are sold-out, Saturday one-day tickets will be available at the door for $20. Whether you're a diehard steampunk or just curious about the movement, this quirky event has something for everyone. Saturday's schedule includes various steampunk bands and authors, a midnight masquerade, workshops, fashion shows, a mustache parade, verbal dueling (a battle of wits) and dozens of other activities. Various events run from 10 a.m. until around 2 a.m. Read more about the culture and find a Saturday lineup here.

May is Bike Month and the Main Library downtown kicks off the cycling celebration Saturday with a bike expo. Check out various bicycle exhibits, meet organizers from groups like MoBo Bicycle Coop, Queen City Bike and League of American Bicyclists and meet Bobbi Montgomery, author of Across America by Bicycle. Get all the information you need to become a regular cyclist about town. The expo runs from 2-4 p.m. Go here for more details.

The Cincinnati Opera will perform the highly anticipated Southern-inspired George Gershwin hit Porgy and Bess in June, but you don't have to wait until summer to get in on the excitement. Saturday's Opera Gala, "A Hot Night in Charleston" will transport Duke Energy Convention Center's Grand Ballroom into the Pametto State with soul food, cocktails, music and dancing. After you've had your fill of Southern-style eats, stick around for the after-party, "Late Night in Charleston." Being a benefit for the Opera, tickets for the Gala are pretty steep ($250, $175 for first-timers); If you're on a budget, consider coming for the after-party, which runs from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. — tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will begin being serves at 6:30 p.m.

Add a little cuteness to your weekend with the Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic open house Sunday. The facility has been yarn bombed by the Cincinnati BombShells to welcome new cats ready for adoption. If you're looking for a new cuddle buddy, consider adopting one of OAR's rescue kitties at the event. The free open house runs 1-4 p.m. Go here for more details, directions and more info on donations and volunteer opportunities.

Happy National Pretzel Day! In honor of this momentous occasion, Servatii offers free pretzel sticks to every guest today. We suggest going all-out with one of their tasty, giant pretzel sandwiches, too. Find a location to stop by here.

Another TED event takes place locally today, this time on Xavier's campus. TEDxXavierUniversity brings leaders in innovation from across the city and country to speak on the theme "Touching the hearts and minds of others through innovation, service, and leadership." Speakers include emcee Michelle Beckham-Corbin (President and Chief Digital Marketing Strategist of C3: Creating Connections Consulting, LLC), Todd Henry (founder and CEO of Accidental Creative), Rashmi Assudani PhD. (Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at XU's Williams College of Business) and other CEOs, directors of non-profits and cutting edge entrepreneurs. The free event runs 1-5 p.m. today at the Cintas Center Schiff Banquet Hall. Guests should have already reserved their spot in advance.

The Contemporary Arts Center continues to bring unique musical performances to the museum. Tonight, local quartet Makr performs Georg Friedrich Haas' "In iij. Noct." at 8 p.m. The music collective features current and former students of The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music Eddy Kwon, Brodie Johnson, Joshua Ulrich and Suzanna Barnes. Doors open at 7:30 tonight and tickets are $14.

Comedian John Heffron makes a tour stop at Funny Bone on the Levee starting tonight. Heffron was the winner of Last Comic Standing's second season and has performed on tons of late night shows and Comedy Central specials and at comedy festivals. A relatively "clean" comic, Heffron avoids politics and controversy in his acts, focusing on the naturally funny aspects of everyday life. Tonight's performance begins at 8 p.m. Find details here.

Check out our music blog for tonight's live show lineup and our To Do page for more events, art shows and performances.

Producers in town this weekend looking for families to relocate to Amish communities

British production company KEO Films is looking for area families interested in participating in a television show which would involve temporarily relocating to an Amish community.

Living with the Amish is a documentary-style show originally aired on UK's Channel 4 in 2011. In that first season, six British teenagers (three boys, three girls) flew across the pond to live with Amish families in Ohio and Pennsylvania. This time, producers have teamed up with A&E for an all-American version.

KEO Development Researcher Lauren Rowles says that while the show is still in very early stages of development, a producer is in Cincinnati this weekend in the search of potential participants. Instead of teens, this program will take whole families and move them into various Amish communities. Rowles went onto describe the types of people they're looking for:

"Having spent the last three years working with the Amish we have found them to have great wisdom and compassion in the difficult task of raising a family and this is something we will focus on in the new American series. We are therefore looking for families that feel they could learn something from the Amish lifestyle and way of parenting. For example, a single mother struggling to maintain discipline and authority in her household, or parents worried that their teenage son might be at risk of making poor life choices, or a daughter rebelling against her parents' authority. We hope that the time with the Amish will open their eyes to a different way of thinking and will be a positive and enriching experience for all those involved."

Interested? The producer is only in town until Sunday, so email Rowles (lauren@keofilms.com) as soon as possible to set up a meeting.

Tonight marks O'Bryonville's first Third Thursday Benefit Wine Walk of the year. Support the neighborhood's independent businesses like Hemptations, Phyllis Weston Gallery, Ten Thousand Villages, The Bonbonerie, indigenous and many more as you hop from spot to spot, enjoying complimentary wine and bites at each participating venue. This month's walk benefits Pets in Need (a UCAN affiliate) and Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry. The event runs from 5-8 p.m. tonight.

Enjoy a romantic night in Paris...without needing a passport. Art Design Consultants presents en evening with their Design Star, Grace Jones of Dwellings on Madison. Jones will transform the ADC loft space (310 Culvert St., Downtown) into a French apartment. Stop by at 6 for cocktails and stick around for the 7 p.m. unveiling of Jones' designs. Holly Golightly attire is encouraged! RSVP here.

Comedian Jim Norton kicks off his three-night gig at Funny Bone on the Levee tonight. Specializing in dark comedy and self-deprecation, the comic has also acted in television and film and has written two humorous nonfiction books. Many will recognize Norton from the Opie & Anthony radio show, Louie, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and several small, odd film roles (two words: Furry Vengeance). Norton goes on tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22.

Cincinnati Zoo's Tunes and Blooms
series continues tonight with Shiny and the Spoon and The Tillers. The free concert features local favorite musicians performing in the beautiful
setting of the zoo's gardens. The concert runs 6-8:30 p.m.; admission to
the zoo is free after 5 p.m. (parking is $8). Tunes and Blooms
continues every Thursday this month.

Jungle Jim's hosts a mystery mix cigar tasting tonight from 5-8 p.m. The tasting will be held at the Oscar Event Center's Monorail Terrace. Guests can enjoy three different cigars with $15 admission. There will be a cash bar, raffle and plenty of cigars and accessories for sale. Each Thursday, Jungle Jim's presents a different variety of cigars to try. No word yet on whether "mystery mix" is an early 4-20 reference.

Follow our music blog for nightly shows and check our To Do page for more art exhibits, theater productions and events.

Celebrate: Today's oddball holidays include International Jugglers Day and National Columnists Day. Apparently a "juggler" can refer to an actual entertainer who can juggle several objects at once or a person who "juggles" multiple tasks or responsibilities (isn't that all of us?). Be sure to also show support for your favorite local columnists today. All chocolates, flowers and exotic dancers can be directed to 811 Race St., Downtown.

Cincy World Cinema continues to present unique film opportunities for the Tri-State by screening The Hunter at Covington's Carnegie Center tonight and Thursday. Directed by Daniel Netthein, The Hunter is based on Julia Leigh's critically acclaimed novel of the same name. Willem Dafoe stars as a Martin, a mercenary sent to Tasmania to hunt the last of a rare tiger breed. Martin is sent from Europe by an ambiguous biotech organization in an effort to extract mysteriously valuable genetic material from the nearly-extinct tiger. The screening begins at 7:30 p.m. both days. Tickets at $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Read our review here.

University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music's production of Arcadia opens tonight with a preview at 8 p.m. The 1993 Tom Stoppard comedy takes place in an English country house in 1809 and 1993, weaving two story lines into one witty, cohesive piece. Both stories delves into past and present pursuits of knowledge and passion. The show runs through Sunday in CCM's Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets for tonight's preview are just $11.

The Mercantile Library turns 177 today, and to celebrate the institution, Civil War historian Peter Cozzens will present a lecture on Cincinnati Generals Hayes and Lytle and their involvement in the Civil War. Hayes was a member of the Mercantile Library and is one of three members to go on to become president. Signed copies of some of Cozzen's 16 books will be available for purchase. The 7 p.m. lecture is $15 for members, $20 non-members. Reserve your spot by calling 513-621-0717. Happy Birthday, Merc! You don't look a day over 150.

Tuesdays
mean Drinking Liberally — the progressive, informal social group sprung from Living Liberally. Join
like-minded individuals at Clifton’s Fries Café (first and third Tuesdays;
second and fourth Tuesdays at Dutch’s Bar and Bottle Shop) and talk current
events, the upcoming election and other hot issues in a relaxed setting. Arrive
by 7:45 p.m. to get in on an Adriatico’s order.

The
Piccadilly Circushas set up its big top at the Bank of Kentucky
Center and tonight is the last chance to check out the spectacle. Expect
standard circus favorites like camels and elephants, high bar performers and
clowns. Bring the kids early and check out a free petting zoo and elephant,
camel and pony rides. Showtimes tonight are 4:30 and 7:30 p.m; bring $10 cash
for parking.

SmartTalk
ConnectedConversations continues its series of inspirational speakers tonight
with pioneer, publisher and producer Vy Higginsen. Higginsen’s story is marked
with numerous accomplishments – she was the first black female radio
personality to land a prime time gig in New York City, the first woman in
advertising sales at Ebony magazine, the first black woman to produce a drama
on Broadway and has founded a non-profit for young artists. Titled “Seeing No
Limitations,”tonight’s 7:30 p.m. show promises an
enlightening evening.

This is the perfect time of year to start a home garden, and tonight Civic
Garden Center presents an organic vegetable gardening class. Tending a garden
doesn’t have to be a pain – instructor Melinda O’Bryant will demonstrate how to
care for your garden using compost, organic fertilizers and pest controls and
weed suppression techniques. The program runs from 6:30-8 p.m. and admission is
just $10; free for CGC volunteers.

University
of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music hosts two free concerts at 8 p.m.
tonight. Visiting composer from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Scott Wyatt performs with and CCM faculty and students in the Cohen Family
Studio Theatre. As part of CCM’s Guest Artist Series, the New Continent Saxophone Quartet of the
Sichuan Province, China plays Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.